Game 1:
CHC 3 5 1 (46-72)
CIN 5 8 0 (73-47)
W: Johnny Cueto (16-6)
L: Jeff Samardzija (8-11)
S: Aroldis Chapman (29)
Box Score
- Xavier Paul! He hit his first homer as a Red in the 2nd inning with a man on base. He's played quite well, ladies and gentlemen.
- Todd Frazier continued his quest for Rookie of the Year honors as he smacked a couple of hits including his 17th longball of the year. Man, I love this kid.
- Cozart hit his 30th double and Bruce hit his second triple of the year. When Jay goes the other way with the ball, its almost always a gaurenteed base hit and usually for extra bases.
- Johnny Cueto. Ah, I can't help but breathe a deep breath of fresh air after typing his name. That's the breath we take after a solid winning performance. Johnny earned league leading win number 16 by tossing eight beautiful innings. 8.0 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 8 SO. Yeah. Solid. He threw two bad pitches all day. One was a ghost hit-by-pitch. The second was to the next batter (Soriano) who homered. Outside those two pitches, Cueto was pristine.
Game 2:
CHC 9 13 1 (47-72)
CIN 7 11 2 (73-48)
W: Brooks Raley (1-2)
L: Todd Redmond (0-1)
S: Carlos Marmol (15)
Box Score
- It's hard telling what the brass was thinking when they brought up Todd Redmond from AAA Louisville to pitch in this one. I understand a couple of things:
- One, it was part two a doubleheader and you don't want to use one of your five regular starters out-of-turn and risk an injury. After all, this Reds rotation has not had a single hiccup all year long (knock on wood, please).
- Two, this is the kind of situation where you have an opportunity to see a guy in the system pitch in the show. Now that trade season has come and gone, it is time to figure out who is going to be a replacement for an injured starter (knock on wood, please) at this point in the season.
- But here is what I don't understand:
- One, why would the Reds not use a perfectly capable and proven starter that is already in the majors? That guy would be Sam LeCure. He is a control pitcher with decent stuff that is honestly, in my opinion, a better option than Mike Leake 50% of the time. Nothing against Mike, but sometimes I wish he were the long reliever and Sam was the fifth starter. Also, when you call a guy up from the minors, you have to send somebody down. That's how it works.
- Two, if you're going to bring up a guy to see what he's got, why bring up a guy who isn't even on anybody's list of Reds future pitchers? Redmond is 27, and is having a decent year in AAA. He is 8-9 with a 3.54 ERA. I think there are several pitchers in the Reds farm system that people would rather see get the nod for this game, and at least two that were definitely ready for the occasion.
- Needless to say, we got beat up. Redmond was basically a pitching machine wearing a Reds jersey. The bullpen wasn't much better.
- We rallied several times but just couldn't stop giving up runs on defense. Ryan Ludwick hit his 25th homer of the year.
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